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SNLU203A – February 2016 – Revised September 2019
Copyright © 2016–2019, Texas Instruments Incorporated
DS250DF410EVM User’s Guide
User's Guide
SNLU203A – February 2016 – Revised September 2019
DS250DF410EVM User’s Guide
The DS250DF410 is a four-channel multi-rate retimer with integrated signal conditioning. It is used to
extend the reach and robustness of long, lossy, crosstalk-impaired high-speed serial links while achieving
a bit error rate (BER) of 10-15 or less. Each channel of the DS250DF410 independently locks to serial
data rates in a continuous range from 20.6 Gbps to 25.8 Gbps or to any supported sub-rate (÷2 and ÷4),
including key data rates such as 10.3125 Gbps and 12.5 Gbps. The DS250DF410 has a single power
supply and minimal need for external components. These features reduce PCB routing complexity and
BOM cost. The advanced equalization features of the DS250DF410 include a low-jitter 3-tap transmit finite
impulse response (FIR) filter, an adaptive continuous-time linear equalizer (CTLE), and an adaptive
decision feedback equalizer (DFE). This enables reach extension for lossy interconnect and backplanes
with multiple connectors and crosstalk. The integrated CDR function is ideal for front-port optical module
applications to reset the jitter budget and retime the high-speed serial data. The DS250DF410 implements
2x2 cross-point on each channel pair, providing the host with both lane crossing and fanout options.
The DS250DF410 can be configured via the default SMBus slave mode or with an external EEPROM. Up
to 16 devices can share a single EEPROM. A non-disruptive on-chip eye monitor and PRBS generator
and checker functions allow for in-system diagnostics. With this kit, users can quickly evaluate the
DS250DF410 retimer performance.